Global AM Summit 2026

Arno started his career in the late 1990s as a trained field service engineer with TRUMPF laser technology and later spent seven years in strategy and business development at EOS. In 2015 he co-founded AM Ventures and co-built the world’s first and largest AM-focused venture fund. Over the decade since, he and his team have scouted and analysed more than 3,000 industrial 3D printing startups worldwide, completed 40+ financing rounds and built a portfolio of 22 companies in 7 countries on 3 continents, with four successful exits to date.

Today he advises investors, corporates, and founders in advanced manufacturing through Held Holding. His Springer essential on applied AI in additive manufacturing (2026, in German only) is written from the same double perspective he works in: technologist and investor. What interests him most is the part the numbers don’t show: the point where the technology works but the business doesn’t yet, and he is candid about the expensive lessons behind that judgement.

Arno has lived and worked on four continents and holds a degree in industrial engineering and management from the University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe (Germany) and an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland).

Chee Teck Lee is the CTO of Moveon Technologies Pte. Ltd., a company dedicated to providing optics & optoelectronics solutions to a wide diversity of industries.

He received his MSc in Materials Engineering from Loughborough University, U.K. after graduating from Singapore Polytechnics with an Advanced Diploma in Polymer Science.

Mr Chee was the Executive Director of Unisteel Technology Ltd. (2006-2009) and the founder of Valen Technologies Pte Ltd (1999-2005). Prior to this, Mr. Chee was involved in a number of senior management and engineering positions, both in multi-national corporations and local SMEs. He has more than 38 years of experience related to precision manufacturing.

Daghan Cam is the Co-founder and CEO of Aibuild, an AI company transforming how products are designed, engineered and manufactured. Since founding the company in 2015, he has expanded its focus from automating industrial 3D printing to building AI agents that execute complex engineering workflows across critical industries such as aerospace, energy and automotive. Aibuild operates CAD, CAE and CAM software to turn design intent into manufacturing-ready outputs, with engineers retaining review and approval.

Previously an architect at Zaha Hadid Architects and a lecturer at University College London, Daghan brings a background in computational geometry, robotics and advanced manufacturing to his work building autonomous engineering software.

Daniel O’Connor is Managing Director of ManufacturingIQ, formerly Rapid News Group, and owner of TCT Group. He has worked in additive manufacturing media for over fourteen years and now leads a portfolio of publications and events serving additive manufacturing, pharma, med-tech, and metrology.

He spent the best part of a decade working exclusively on TCT Magazine, the flagship additive manufacturing title, established in 1992. He was central to bringing the print product into the digital age, and today he drives the group’s content strategy and new product development.

David Then is Vice President, Engineering at Singapore Aero Engine Services Private Limited (SAESL), where he leads the development of world-class engineering capabilities to enable safe, compliant and high-performing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operations. He is committed to positioning engineering as a strategic enabler of operational excellence and business growth – strengthening technical and operational capability, developing high-performing teams, and building scalable systems to support the future of MRO.

With more than two decades of experience in aerospace, engineering and advanced manufacturing, David has held leadership roles at Rolls-Royce and Collins Aerospace. He has focused on turning complex technical challenges into practical solutions that strengthen operational capability and performance while creating new business opportunities. At Collins Aerospace, he established the Singapore Innovation Hub to accelerate the development, industrialisation and deployment of technology solutions across operations. At SAESL, he continued to turn ideas into measurable outcomes, helping strengthen the organisation’s operational capabilities and performance.

David holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management Professional. Throughout his career, he has remained passionate about developing engineering talent, strengthening organisational capability and creating environments where people can grow, contribute and excel.
David’s leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that engineering creates its greatest value when technical excellence is translated into operational and business performance. He believes sustainable excellence comes from empowering people, simplifying complexity, combining disciplined processes with purposeful technology, and continuously improving to challenge convention and create lasting value.

Dr Chia Boon Tat is the Chief Technology Officer of Mencast Marine, where he leads the company’s “From Carbon to Silicon” transformation. The programme is reshaping how marine products are designed and manufactured through the practical application of AI, additive manufacturing and intelligent automation.

Under his leadership, Mencast has developed AI-assisted design capabilities and produced class-certified additively manufactured marine propellers, while progressing towards more connected and adaptive production.

The transformation extends beyond technology to developing people, changing mindsets and building a company culture that embraces learning, experimentation and new ways of working. It is supported by collaborations with research institutions, universities, classification societies and industry partners that help translate innovation into practical industrial value. 

Through this transformation, Mencast is moving beyond commodity-based competition towards higher-value solutions and services, while strengthening Singapore’s capabilities in advanced marine manufacturing.

Dr George-Cristian Potrivitu is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Aliena, a Singapore-based satellite propulsion company. He holds a BEng degree in aerospace engineering, two MSc in space technology, and a PhD in physics. His academic pursuits and and professional work in the fields of plasma physics and satellite propulsion brought him to Alta (now Sitael, Italy), JAXA – Japan, CNRS – France, and NTU – Singapore.  Some of his work was recognized and awarded by the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. In 2018, he co-founded Aliena. At the company, Dr Potrivitu is leading the technological development of the company’s main products – MUSIC, MESSE, and MFE Hall thrusters and propulsion systems – and contributes to the business development of the company which closed its Series A of investment in early 2024. Since July 2025, Dr Potrivitu serves as an adjunct assistant professor with SUTD, Singapore. He is passionate about teaching, astronomy and philosophy of science. He loves cooking and painting.

Dr. Karsten Heuser has been with Siemens for more than 25 years, holding various management positions in areas including organic LEDs, concentrated photovoltaics and PLM & Innovation excellence. For more than eight years, he has served as Vice President Additive Manufacturing at Siemens AG, driving the industrialization of additive manufacturing across industries.

Beyond his role at Siemens, Dr. Heuser is actively engaged in the additive manufacturing ecosystem. He serves on the Advisory Board of the VDMA Additive Manufacturing Working Group and the Formnext Advisory Board, is a board member of Bavaria Makes e.V., chairs the Advisory Board of Rapid.Tech 3D in Erfurt and chairs the Board of Trustees of the IAPT institute in Hamburg.

As a LinkedIn Top Voice, Dr. Heuser is recognized as an international thought leader in the industrialization of additive manufacturing. He holds a Ph.D. in solid-state physics from the University of Augsburg and a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Management from ESMT Berlin.

Hardik Dobariya is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Factorem, an AI-driven on-demand manufacturing platform. His experience spans deep-tech startups and global technology companies, with a background in hardware, semiconductor engineering, and advanced manufacturing.

At Factorem, Hardik leads the company’s AI and automation strategy, applying generative AI, agentic systems, and intelligent workflows to simplify end-to-end manufacturing fulfillment. His focus is on turning complex technologies into practical, scalable systems that help hardware companies move faster from design to production.

Under his leadership, Factorem is scaling a vetted distributed manufacturing network across Southeast Asia and beyond, building the infrastructure to make advanced manufacturing faster, more reliable, and more accessible to global hardware teams.

Joris gives strategic and business development advice to companies in Additive Manufacturing. He helps with due diligence, partnerships, and application development. Joris has been active in Additive Manufacturing for over 16 years and has worked with some of the largest and highest-performing businesses in the 3D Printing market.

Julian Rascol is the Head of the Airbus Tech Hub Singapore. Grounded in his experience as a former tech scout identifying breakthrough technologies, he now leads a strategic business unit supporting global, cross-divisional Research & Technology (R&T) for Airbus. In this role, Julian focuses on bridging complex aerospace challenges with Singapore’s world-class research and industrial ecosystem to shape the future of aerospace.

Kitty Wang is the CEO of SynaCore, dedicated to delivering end-to-end simulation and prediction capabilities through its Additive Manufacturing Digital Twin (AM-DT) software — helping companies enhance the efficiency and quality of their additive manufacturing processes. Built into the AM-DT platform, SynaCore’s Adaptive ToolPath and AI Alloy capabilities further provide intelligent process strategies and accelerate smart alloy development, driving additive manufacturing toward a evolving manufacturing future.

Kitty holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. Prior to founding SynaCore, Kitty founded 3D Science Valley, offering in-depth market insights and consultant for the additive manufacturing industry. Before that, she built extensive manufacturing industry experience at multinational corporations including Sandvik, Chevron, and DMG MORI.

Lorenzo Gasparoni, aerospace engineer with a double degree from University of Padua and Ecole Centrale de Lille, is currently Alstom’s 3D Printing Program Manager, leading the strategy and global footprint of Alstom Additive Manufacturing applications within the group. He has extensive experience in additive manufacturing, industrialization, and innovation management and specializes in the development and deployment of advanced manufacturing technologies for transportation and industrial applications, with a particular focus on engineering qualification, production optimization, and digital transformation.

Throughout his career, Lorenzo has led cross-functional programs involving research, engineering, operations, and supply chain teams, driving the adoption of additive manufacturing solutions from concept validation to industrial implementation. His work has contributed to the advancement of sustainable manufacturing practices, reduced product development cycles, and improved operational efficiency.

Passionate about emerging technologies and their practical application in industry, Lorenzo actively collaborates with international teams and research partners to accelerate innovation and bridge the gap between scientific developments and real-world manufacturing needs.

Mahendran Reddy is a global design, technology and innovation executive with 25+ years of experience building bridges between industry, government, research and emerging technology.

He is Senior Vice President, Global Ecosystems at Fehrmann Tech Group in Hamburg, where he drives international partnerships, market development and strategic ecosystems around advanced materials, Additive Manufacturing and AI. He is part of the team developing Fehrmann MaterialsX and MatGPT, applying AI to accelerate materials discovery and enable new approaches to engineering and manufacturing.

An architect by training, Mahendran began his career at the intersection of design and the built environment before moving into Singapore’s public-sector innovation ecosystem, technology commercialisation and advanced manufacturing. He has played a significant role in advancing the adoption of Additive Manufacturing through industry development, partnerships and international collaboration.

His experience spans Europe and Asia, with extensive networks across industry, academia, government and technology companies.

A frequent speaker, moderator and industry advocate, Mahendran explores how emerging technologies move from innovation to adoption — and ultimately from experimentation to industrial scale.

Michael Agam is the APAC Head of Channel and Alliances at Tulip Interfaces, where he is building the region’s partner ecosystem for the company’s frontline operations platform.

He brings more than 20 years of experience scaling deep-tech hardware and software businesses across Israel, China, and Singapore. As General Manager, APAC at Formlabs, he rebuilt the region’s go-to-market model across 14 markets, doubling contribution margin and growing revenue roughly 80%. Before that, as President, South Asia at Stratasys, he led a 70-person organization delivering approximately 30% compound annual growth over four years while shifting the business toward industrial and commercial customers. Earlier, as CEO of New Hope Data in Shanghai, he transformed an industrial IoT hardware business into a recurring data-services company, growing annual recurring revenue more than tenfold before the company was acquired.

Michael holds an LL.B. (cum laude) and an MBA (top 5%), and speaks conversational Mandarin. He is based in Singapore.

Naomi L Nathan is a trained medical doctor, public health specialist and business executive with over eleven years of experience across health policy, health systems strengthening, and healthcare innovation. She holds a medical degree from the National Medical University Bogomolets in Kyiv, a Joint Master of Public Health and Magister awarded through the Europubhealth+ Erasmus Mundus programme (University of Sheffield, Jagiellonian Institute of Public Health, and EHESP), specialising in Health Economics and Governance of Health Systems in Transition, and is completing an Executive MBA at ESMT Berlin.

She currently serves as Head of Healthcare Division at Mobility goes Additive e.V. in Berlin, Germany – a leading European network advancing additive manufacturing (3D printing) in healthcare – where she develops policy positioning, evidence, and strategy for innovative healthcare technologies, addressing various stakeholders including the European Parliament and German Government on their adoption to the healthcare system. Previously, a Technical Officer/Consultant to the World Health Organization, she has worked on various health systems governance and policy initiatives with member states, and stakeholders and served as secretariat member to the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development chaired by Mario Monti. Her interests centre on the governance of health systems, equitable access to innovation, and the intersection between the adoption of emerging technologies for health systems and relevant health policies.

David Rosen is a Principal Scientist at the Institute of Advanced Intelligence and Computing (IAIC) and SIMTech, both A*STAR institutes in Singapore. He was a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology for many years after receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts. Additionally, he held faculty and research positions at the Singapore University of Technology & Design. His research interests include computer-aided design, additive manufacturing (AM), and design methodology. He is a Fellow of ASME and ASTM. Also, he is the recipient of several engineering design and manufacturing awards and co-authored a leading textbook on AM.

Yang Wanhu, from Hunan, holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from King’s College London and a master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Technology from the University of Southampton. He has worked at DSTL UK, Materialise, and HeyGears, specializing in additive manufacturing technology and application development. He joined Bright Laser Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. in 2020. He was appointed General Manager in August 2023, driving the first application of 3D printing technology in a new industry and contributing to the company’s breakthrough growth in Shenzhen.